Surface drain culvert



Patented Aug. 18} 1936 UNITED STATES SURFACE DRAIN CULVER'I George W. Sondag, Oakland, Calif., assignor to The. American Rolling Mill 00., Middletown,

Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application January 8, 1935, Serial No. 839

5 Claims.

The present invention relates to an open culvert for draining the surface of a roadway and for other similar uses.

In constructing roads, especially those having a'gravel or dirt surface upon grades, it is customary to provide ditches or water breaks across the surface of the road to carry off to one side the rainwater which runs longitudinally down the road, which" if allowed to continue for any great distance willwash away the surface material, especially if the surface'is worn into wheel ruts in'which the "drainage concentrates.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a culvert of trough like form which can be embedded in the surfacematerial of the road and which will effectively carry 01f the surface drainage therefrom.

Other objects of the invention are to provide a culvert of the described type which is inexpensive to construct and install, which is easy to maintain in proper operating condition, which will have long life, and which will not present any obstruction or unevenness in the surface of the road t interfere with the passage of trafiic over it. Although the device is herein illustrated and described as used for draining a roadway, it is to be understood that it may also be used without change of form for draining any fiat surface. It is also to be understood that changes, within the scope of the claims hereto appended, may be made in the form, construction and arrangement of the device without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined in said claims.

Reference will be made to the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 is a plan view of a roadway showing the culvert installed therein.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

In the drawing, the reference numeral 3 designates the surface of a roadway, which may be composed of any suitable material, as for example gravel or dirt. In Fig. 1 of the drawing the road surface 3 is to be understood as sloping upwardly toward the right, so that any water falling or lying upon the surface will run longitudinally from right to left.

The culvert embodying the present invention in its preferred form consists of a strip of metal, preferably steel, which is bent longitudinally into the form shown in Fig. 2 with a central depressed trough 4 of substantially V-shape with a rounded bottom 5. The central trough 4 is bordered by inverted V-shaped portions 6 with rounded tops 1, and the edge portions of the strip are bent horizontally outwardly as at 8 and preferably turn up slightly at their extreme edges, as shown at 9. The approximate shape of the entire culvert is that of an inverted W.

The culvert isembedded in the surface material as shown, with its rounded upper bends '1 approximately fiush with the surface of they road; This is accomplished by digging a ditch across-the road the full width of the culvert, 10 laying it in place in said ditch, and back filling the road material over the side flanges 8. For best results, the road material should fill the spaces beneath the upper bends I, especially at the upper end of the culvert to prevent water 15 from entering under said upper bends and washing out the material beneath the culvert.

On grades, the culvert is installed at an angle to the transverse line of the road, as illustrated in Fig. 1, so that one end is higher than the other end. The slope or grade of the culvert itself should be approximately eight per cent, and where the road is cut into a bank, as on a side hill, the upper end of the culvert should be at the inside or bank of the road. The outer or lower end of the culvert preferably extends out slightly beyond the edge of the roadway, as shown at Ill in Fig. 1, and suitable provision, not shown, should be made for carrying off the water from said lower end to prevent washing the outer bank of the road. Thus the water which flows longitudinally down the road drains into the trough 4 of the culvert and is carried off laterally. The culverts are placed at sufficiently close intervals, depending upon the grade of the road and the character of its surface material, so as to prevent the accumulation of sulficient longitudinal drainage to cause erosion of the surface.

The trough 4 of the culvert is so small as to cause no interference to trailic. In practice, the distance from center to center of the upper bends l is approximately five inches. The rounded form of said upper bends provides smooth edges for the trough and the rounded bottom 5 enables it to be easily cleaned out. If desired, in locations where long dry seasons exist, the trough 4 may be filled up with road material during the dry season, and can be easily and quickly cleaned out at the beginning of the rainy season.

The culvert is made of sufiiciently heavy material, in practice about one eighth of an inch thick, to prevent it from being bent by the passage of vehicles over it, and if desired it may be galvanized 55 V to prevent rusting. The sideflanges 8 with their turned up edges 3 provide firm anchors for the culvert, so that when once installed it is not shifted or even loosened by the passage of 'trafiic,

as long as the road material is kept up to approximately the level of. the upper bends 1. r

I claim; H we 7 l. A surface drain culvert comprising a strip 'of metalhaving a longitudinal centraltrough, the

sides offsaid trough flaring outwardly and upwardly and thence into a rounded curveIand V downwardly andoutwardly to form 1 anchoring flanges adapted to be embedded in 'tli'grdund, whereby to form rounded wearing ed'geswhieh are substantially flush with the giound surface" atits junction with the trough when said culvert is 'emplaced,the lowest portion of said flanges being approximately at the level of the bottom of said trough. V V r 71 7 52 A surfacedrain eulvert comprising a strip of metal having a longitudinal central trough, the Vsides of said troughsloping outwardly and up wardly, thence turning in a rounded curve toa'n outwardand downward slope, and finally extend-V ing approximately horizontally outwardly, the

downwardly sloping and horizontal portions forming anchoring flanges, and the rounded curves adapted, when said culvert is in position in a road surface, to form broad wearing edges at the junction'of the trough with theground surface.

3. In combination with a road surface, a sheet metal drain culvert embedded in the road material and comprising a substantially rigid trough member inclined longitudinally at'an angle to the horizontal to carry away surface water and having its side walls flaring upwardly and outwardly each '5 merging into a broadly rounded curved wall disposed substantially tangential to the road surface, the outer'portions of saidncurvedwalls-extend-' in'g downwardly and terminating in anchoring flanges'embedded inthe road material, the relal 1 tively' broad spacewithin-and beneath said curved walls being filled with'road material to reenforce V the'culvert to resist distortion and collapse due to the wear and weight of traflic.

4. In combination with a road surface, a drain a V culvert embedded in the road material comprising asheet metal member of substantially inverted W cross-section, having rounded apexes' disposed substantially tangentially to the road surface, the outer walls'terminating downwardly in outwardly extending anchoring flanges. 5. In combination with a road surface, 'adrain culvert embedded in the road material comprising a sheet metal member of substantially inverted W cross-section, havingroundedapexes disposed substantially tangentially to the road surface, the outer walls terminating downwardly in outwardly extending anchoring flanges, the

spaces under said apexes being filled with the road a material for additional support.

GEORGE W. 'SONDAG. 

